Is it wise to buy if you have no heirs?

Yellow_mango

I completely agree. Do you have any advice about what the other options are if you don't leave your house to your kids?

I have a plan (dream) to sell everything I own (possibly retaining a property to provide ongoing income) and live my retirement travelling around the world from a suitcase.

PS - I have kids, but have no particular intention to leave them anything when I've gone. I'm hoping they'll be well established with their own lives by then and need no support from me.

SarahLu

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Downsize. Equity release. Sell it and use the money for whatever.

If you sold up would you not end up just putting most of it back into renting, assuming you lived for a reasonable time after? But at least you would be getting back the money you have put in over the years whereas currently I'm renting anyway and will never get it back...

SarahLu

Yellow_mango wrote: »

I have a plan (dream) to sell everything I own (possibly retaining a property to provide ongoing income) and live my retirement travelling around the world from a suitcase.

Sounds great. Don't think I'll ever be in the position to own more than one property myself

ACG

Another potential reason to buy is that it could fund care if you need it. The council will pay towards it, but having recently been involved with putting my gran in a care home, I can honestly say there are care homes and care homes.

One we went to see had staff who were miserable, busy and I would not let them look after a goldfish let alone my gran. Thankfully she has a home which can be sold and some savings to pay for one where the staff are nice, friendly, helpful and they actually do things other than put them in front of a TV for 8 hours a day.

SarahLu

ACG wrote: »

Another potential reason to buy is that it could fund care if you need it. The council will pay towards it, but having recently been involved with putting my gran in a care home, I can honestly say there are care homes and care homes.

One we went to see had staff who were miserable, busy and I would not let them look after a goldfish let alone my gran. Thankfully she has a home which can be sold and some savings to pay for one where the staff are nice, friendly, helpful and they actually do things other than put them in front of a TV for 8 hours a day.

Yes that's a good point and could really be relevant to us one day with us having no one to look after us!

pinkteapot

Was about to say exactly the same as ACG about care - having a house to sell to fund better care is definitely no bad thing! And with no kids you won't have the "Oh, but then the kids won't get the house" angst.

Yellow_mango

SarahLu wrote: »

Sounds great. Don't think I'll ever be in the position to own more than one property myself

Oh neither will I. The plan is to pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible, then put all available funds for as long as we can bear to keep working into pensions / savings to provide income in retirement. That, along with any additional income from the house (whether through renting or selling and investing the proceeds), will fund my nomad lifestyle!

That's the plan anyway. Looking further and further from reality right now, but I'm trying to keep the dream alive!

Mutton_Geoff

SarahLu wrote: »

I just came across this article online and it got me thinking https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/08/kevin-oleary-unless-you-can-pass-this-test-dont-buy-a-home.html. No idea who the guy is or is credibility, it just got me thinking about my own situation

Completely irrelevant to the UK market.


I am approaching retirement, never married, never had/wanted kids. I have owned my own property since I was 19. I would not have done it any other way.


Until you live in a home that you own, you will not understand the immense feeling of security it gives you (even if you struggled with a 15% interest rate mortgage).


One of my relatives sold out when their kids left home. Now they are sick of being pushed from one rented to the next as landlords sell up or increase rents to an uncomfortable level.


To consider not to buy for a legacy benefit only is daft. In my own example, I will be downsizing on retirement and the equity released will be equivalent to over 15 years net salary. All tax free. Leave your house to a worthy cause but don't delay your purchase decision for something you saw on the internet that is not even relevant to the UK market.

SarahLu

Yellow_mango wrote: »

Oh neither will I. The plan is to pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible, then put all available funds for as long as we can bear to keep working into pensions / savings to provide income in retirement. That, along with any additional income from the house (whether through renting or selling and investing the proceeds), will fund my nomad lifestyle!

That's the plan anyway. Looking further and further from reality right now, but I'm trying to keep the dream alive!

Sounds great, I hope it works out for you. I've left it a bit later than I should have to get on with these things but on the flipside I've done loads of travelling in my younger years. Can definitely see myself doing something similar to you in the future though

SarahLu

Mutton_Geoff wrote: »

Completely irrelevant to the UK market.


I am approaching retirement, never married, never had/wanted kids. I have owned my own property since I was 19. I would not have done it any other way.


Until you live in a home that you own, you will not understand the immense feeling of security it gives you (even if you struggled with a 15% interest rate mortgage).


One of my relatives sold out when their kids left home. Now they are sick of being pushed from one rented to the next as landlords sell up or increase rents to an uncomfortable level.


To consider not to buy for a legacy benefit only is daft. In my own example, I will be downsizing on retirement and the equity released will be equivalent to over 15 years net salary. All tax free. Leave your house to a worthy cause but don't delay your purchase decision for something you saw on the internet that is not even relevant to the UK market.

I'm not about to make a life decision on single article, it was just something that got me thinking and I thought I would ask the question.

Re downsizing, we would probably be buying a small place anyway as its just the 2 of us, so I can't see us doing much of a downsize in later life. Is it sensible to buy something bigger than we need if we can afford to now, with a view to it increasing in value and then downsizing later in life?